The Most Anticipated Movies of 2013 Part One
Despite many great movies coming out over the past 12 months, 2012 wasn't exactly a vintage year for films, 2013 on the other hand could turn out to be promising. We've taken a look at some of the most anticipated movies that will be making their way into theaters over the next 12 months.
Elysium
Credit: Sony Pictures Entertainment
District 9 was a runaway success; it proved that star power isn't all that important as it raked in seven times its $30 million budget. Now that director Neill Blomkamp has made a name for himself, he's turned to a much starrier cast which stars Matt Damon and has Jodie Foster and Alice Braga in support.
Blomkamp pulled off quite a feat by turning in District 9 for $30 million; proving that he could deliver high quality action and effects on a relatively small budget for the type of movie he was making. Elysium's budget is four times as much, it's set in the future where a massive gulf between the rich and the poor has emerged. The elite now live on a space station in the stratosphere while the poor are going about their days on a rather bleak looking Earth.
Damon's character looks to be rather complex; he's playing an ex-convict who winds up as part of a society-levelling mission but only because of his own reasons rather than any concern for the poor - we see some sort of revenge story in the offing here.
Oblivion
Credit: Universal
Sticking with sci-fi, we're quite excited over the latest offering from 'Tron: Legacy' director Joseph Kosinski. Tom Cruise returns as a drone repairman who is one of the last men on the planet after a war between Earth and an alien race made Earth pretty much uninhabitable.
The trailer that we've seen doesn't give really give us much details on the plot aside, what it does do is set out the world that Cruise now inhabits and provides a glimpse of a potential spanner in the works when he comes across Olga Kurylenko whose existence forces everyone to revisit their beliefs.
Cruise will be hoping that 'Oblivion' will see him return to winning ways at the box office; 'Rock of Ages' was a massive flop and 'Jack Reacher' has performed below expectations. Universal thoroughly expect 'Oblivion' to perform well; gushing that the script is 'one of the finest we've ever come across', they would say that though wouldn't they.
The World's End
Credit: Universal
Every time Edgar Wright teams up with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost it gets people interested. They have reteamed after going their separate ways; Pegg and Frost made the enjoyable if ultimately forgettable 'Paul' and Wright made the dreadful, awful mess that was 'Scott Pilgrim vs. the World'.
'The World's End' is an apocalyptic comedy that sees a group of friends decide to go out in style, well their version of style at-least; they all go out for one final pub crawl to see in the end of time.
Support comes from Paddy Considine, Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsan and Rosamund Pike. Whether the three regular collaborators will manage to once again successfully fuse comedy with a specific sub-genre remains to be seen, one thing's for sure though; there are plenty of people who can't wait to find out.
Captain Phillips
Credit: *imnotobsessed.com
Paul Greengrass films are generally well worth a watch, despite this 'Green Zone' didn't exactly set the world alight both critically and commercially. He does have some decent performers to prop up his CV however, both 'United 93' and 'The Bourne Ultimatum' scored well with theater audiences.
'Captain Phillips' sees the director enter unfamiliar territory; Tom Hanks plays the lead role as a captain whose ship gets taken over by Somali pirates.
There are few directors who could deliver the realism and the terror that the subject matter needs and there's already quite a bit of buzz surrounding this release. It's not making its way into theaters until October and that has already got tongues wagging about the 2014 Oscars - let's not get too carried away, but the anticipation for 'Captain Phillips' is certainly growing.
World War Z
Credit: Paramount
This film has been stuck in production hell; late re-shoots and script problems have all taken their toll on this zombie war movie.
Sitting in the director's chair is Marc Foster, who may well be drinking at the last chance saloon after the abomination that was 'Quantum of Solace'. He has had better days at the office however, 'Finding Neverland' and 'Monster's Ball' are both strong movies, but neither of them can point to the fact that Foster can direct action well.
The film itself will see Brad Pitt star as a man who gets drawn into the zombie war and is separated from his family in the process, follow-ups to World War Z are supposedly already in the pipeline, so the studio must be confident that, despite the production problems, they've got a sure-fire hit on their hands.
